Christian Knaus, son of Michael Knaus, was born in Benzingen near Sigmaringen. He moved to Neulußheim, just east of the city of Speyer, and married there to Anna Katharina Bindewald, daughter of Georg Bindewald and Juliana Kraft of Neulußheim, on 29 January 1732. Their eldest child, Johannes Knaus, was born there and baptized on 17 June 1733 and a second son, Johann Peter Knaus, was born there and baptized on 8 February 1736. Christian and Anna Katharina had a total of nine children in Neulußheim between 1733 and 1755. Christian died on 14 December 1755 in Neulußheim at the age of 60, shortly after the birth of his ninth child. Anna Katharina was remarried in 1762 to Andreas Rauch, and she died on 25 November 1778 in Neulußheim.
On 1 May 1758, son Johannes Knaus married Susanna Kern, daughter of Georg Heinrich Kern and Katharina Schmitt, in Neulußheim. Susanna was born in Neulußheim and baptized there on 27 March 1740. Their first child, Anna Katharina, was also born there and baptized on 3 September 1759.
Johannes immigrated to Denmark with his wife Susanna, his daughter Anna Katharina, and his brother Johann Peter. They arrived in the city of Schleswig on 17 March 1761 with several other families from Neulußheim and are recorded on 8 August 1761 in the colony of Friderichsau, where Johann Peter married Anna Barbara Oder, daughter of Leonard Oder, who had also come from Neulußheim.
In June 1763, Johannes and Johann Peter voluntarily left Friderichsau with their families and immigrated to Russia. Johannes Knaus arrived in Holstein on 24 June 1765 and is recorded there on the 1767 Census in Household No. 29 with his wife Susanna and son Johann Adam. Their daughter Anna Katharina is not listed, so she probably died before the census was taken. Johannes' widow, Susanna, is recorded in the 1798 Census of Holstein in Household No. 39 with her sons Johann Adam, Johannes, and Johann Christian.
Johannes' brother, Johann Peter Knaus, settled in Kratzke on 8 May 1767 and is recorded in the 1767 Census in Household No. 48 with his wife Anna Barbara and daughters Susanna Christina and Anna Maria. Johann Peter and Anna Barbara are not listed in the 1798 Census of Kratzke , but Johann Peter's widow (from a subsequent marriage evidently) is recorded in Household No. 5 along with two children of the deceased Johann Peter Knaus. Johann Peter's daughter, Anna Maria, is recorded in the 1798 Census of Kratzke with her husband Johann Peter Boxberger in Household No. 10 and another daughter, Anna Katharina, is recorded in the 1798 Census of Warenburg in Household No. 106 with her husband Andreas Schmidt.
- Evangelische Kirche Altlußheim, Familienbuch A-R (LDS Film #1189158).
- Evangelische Kirche Altlußheim, Taufen, Heiraten & Tote (LDS Film #1189161).
- Ockert, Wolfgang. Ortssippenbuch Neulußheim (2004): 221-223.
- Eichhorn, Alexander. The Immigration of German Colonists to Denmark and their Subsequent Emigration to Russia in the Years 1759-1766 (Deiningen, Germany: Steinmeier, 2012): 250-251; 479; 674-675; 677.
- Pleve, Igor. Einwanderung in das Wolgagebiet, 1764-1767 Band 2 (Göttingen: Göttinger Arbeitskreis, 2001): 133; 460.
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga: Economy, Population, and Agriculture Volume 1 (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): 495, 637.
- Mai, Brent Alan. 1798 Census of the German Colonies along the Volga: Economy, Population, and Agriculture Volume 2 (Lincoln, NE: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1999): 1023, 1112.